The Tiger and the Wolf

By: Adrian Tchaikovsky

Narrated by: Kyla Garcia

Length: 22 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's Summary

The first audiobook in the Echoes of the Fall series, The Tiger and the Wolf is an accomplished high fantasy by Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of the Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning Children of Time. 

In the bleak northern crown of the world, war is coming. 

Maniye's father is the Wolf clan's chieftain, but she's an outcast. Her mother was queen of the Tiger, and these tribes have been enemies for generations. Maniye also hides a deadly secret. All can shift into their clan's animal form, but Maniye can take on tiger and wolf shapes. She refuses to disown half her soul so escapes, rescuing a prisoner of the Wolf clan in the process. The killer Broken Axe is set on their trail, to drag them back for retribution. 

The Wolf chieftan plots to rule the north, and controlling his daughter is crucial to his schemes. However, other tribes also prepare for strife. Strangers from the far south appear, too, seeking allies in their own conflict. It's a season for omens as priests foresee danger and a darkness falling across the land. Some say a great war is coming, overshadowing even Wolf ambitions. A time of testing and broken laws is near, but what spark will set the world ablaze? 

©2017 Adrian Tchaikovsky (P)2017 Macmillan Digital Audio

Disappointed

I loved Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children of Time and had high hopes for The tiger and the Wolf. Sadly, I did not think this novel had the depth nor the imagination of the earlier book.

The novel seems heavily based on Native American lore. Tchaikovsky’s characters have the capacity to “step” from human to animal (totem) form and back. This ability drives the plot of The Tiger and the Wolf.

As the story unfolded, I sensed it was taking place at some time in the distant past, well before Europeans had contact with native Americans. The lines between the worlds of flesh, spirit, and magic are blurred which is also vital to the plot.

None of the above bothered me, although listening, it took me some time to sort out which character was which. Moreover, I was bothered by the narration. This book would have been much better in audio with two narrators, one male, the other female.

Kayla Garcia’s voice was consistently feminine, and at times juvenile. This didn’t work when she tried to voice male characters. They all sounded silly, like what they were: a high-voiced woman trying to sound like a man. Additionally, Ms. Garcia’s interpretation of the characters’ manner of speech sounds like an old Hollywood cliche of an “Indian” talking. (Think Tonto saying, How?, to the Lone Ranger).

As usual, the author deals with contemporary issues. In this novel it is the concept of being biracial (bi-species/totem) as well as the relationships between all of the species/tribes that creates conflict. Sadly, the good guys and bad guys were all one dimensional. Even the character “surprises”, there were a few, were easily foreseeable.

All in all, the story of Tiger and the Wolf was very predictable. Perhaps this is to set the scene for the subsequent books? The problem for me is that the fantasy genre can so easily become formulaic. What I loved most about Children of Time was that, although I could figure out where it was going, it was wonderfully imaginative. In it Tchaikovsky seamlessly wove his story with higher philosophical questions. This time The author borrows from Native American tradition but the plot is too simple, the characters are flat, and the conflict is trite.

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5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Interesting Story with a Lack Luster Performance

What did you like best about The Tiger and the Wolf? What did you like least?

I have come to adore the way that Tchaikovsky creates his world. The way the characters "step" into their animal forms is described so wonderfully and the added bit of being able to incorporate bit of stone, metal or furs, into their animal form adds an interesting element to the character design.

If you’ve listened to books by Adrian Tchaikovsky before, how does this one compare?

Children of Time is certainly my favorite so far, followed by Guns of the Dawn. Tiger and the Wolf brings up a limping and whimpering third place.

How could the performance have been better?

Kyla Garcia doesn't do the source material any favors. Her performance is flat and nearly monotone throughout. Characters with distinct speech patterns are hardly embellished and simply sound boring. There is little difference between the characters otherwise, the adult men come in three flavors of stereotypical Indian (read:Native American) low, base, and high pitched voice. All with varying levels of "HOW PALE FACE" tones that are laughable. It becomes difficult to discern which character is speaking when more than 1 man is speaking. Further more the action with an equally flat gusto, in moments where you should be wide eyed and tense from the unfolding action Kyla leaves me bored and slightly annoyed.

Was The Tiger and the Wolf worth the listening time?

As a fan of Tchaikovsky I would say give it a try, however with Kyla narrating all three books I don't think I will be picking them up.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Great Premise, Great Setup, Boring Execution

This series was painfully boring and after listening to all 3 books, it never got better. If you suffer from completionism, don't even start this.
Why it was boring: The plot is completely predictable trope with occasional ex machina magic to move the story along. There were some very well set rules around the magic at first, but most of the key scenes rely on ex magica that falls outside the established scope. The main character has a lot of Mary Sue qualities and her arc is boring with a climax that seems out of character and unearned (this happens in all 3 books).
Adrian's scifi is pretty good but I will be staying away from his fantasy.

Took a While, But Enjoyable

Bought this after being thoroughly impressed and drawn in by Tchaikovsky’s “Children of Time”. His “Tiger and the Wolf” took a lot longer for me to latch onto, but eventually I began to feel myself caring for the characters (Hespric, Broken Axe, eventually Manye). Kyla Garcia has fantastic diction and does well with the character’s voices, but she has a habit of saying each sentence with the same inflection. Sometimes I wasn’t able to ignore it and it’d annoy me to the point of switching off the book. Still, this has all the lovely detail, world-building, and character development that Tchaikovksy is known for. As much as all the fight scenes began to be a groan, many of them were truly nail-biters. Tchaikovsky’s knowledge of animals really shines through in this and I enjoyed the world he created here. I may venture into the sequel.

I was hoping for more

Adrian Tchaikovsky's 2015 novel Children of Time was one of the best sci-fi / fantasy novels I've ever read (and I've read a lot). I tried reading both this book and Guns of the Dawn in hopes of finding more work of that quality... sadly, both were merely mediocre. Perhaps I would give it a better score if I hadn't been hoping for more from this author.

This book was AMAZING! I'm HOOKED on his books!!!

This story was fantastic! So much depth and emotion ahhh it was honestly wonderful and I'm going to get the second book now! Lol

not bad just not that great

as the review title says the book was okay. Nothing particularly bad with it it jumps around a bit but overall okay. It was a bit hard to finish as the end was getting too predictable. But honestly had nothing else to read. The book wasn't bad just nothing to extraordinary or memorable would not recommend it to anybody but if you don't have anything else to read it's okay.

Disappointing

I pre-ordered this title and was very excited to listen to it, but I could found it very boring and could not get into it at all. I loved Children of Time. I guess Tchaikovsky is hit or miss for me.

0 of 1 people found this review helpful

it's like Game of Thrones but way less disgusting!

this book was incredible start to finish the characters were so very flushed out and developed people, I very quickly got the sense that I'd known them for a long time, the Mystikal elements and mysterys of this world are fascinating and fun, the way the cultures and beliefs of the different groups interact and clash are also really interesting and fun. 10/10 would recommend

0 of 1 people found this review helpful

Not my kind of book

Whilst it was narrated very well, I found the story telling too confusing and not gripping enough to do much for me.